The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council has released figures showing the 10 worst performing schools at Ordinary and Advanced Level in the November 2011 examinations.

Officially, the worst school to sit your O’ Level exams in the country is Malisa Holy Trinity in the Midlands, and by some bad luck, the worst performing A’ Level school – Educare College – is also in the same province.

Mashonaland West and the Midlands provinces provide five schools each in the league table of shame, followed by Mashonaland East and Bulawayo with three each, then Harare on two and Matabeleland South and North with one each.

Malisa Holy Trinity Secondary School is in Ward 28 of a village called Inhlangano in Silobela. It draws its name from the local traditional leader, Chief Malisa.

The council-run school was established in 1984, and has an intake of 290 pupils. Anadu Silulu, MP for the area, says the school has eight trained teachers and five who are untrained – representing one teacher per 22 students.

The privately-owned Educare College in Gweru – statistically the worst school for A’ Level – offers various vocational courses, but is also open to secondary education students up to A’ Level.

Established in 1994, Educacare College says in its mission statement that its vision is “to be a regional leader in providing quality training and educational services”.

The figures released by ZIMSEC cover 1,459 schools at O’ Level which registered 30 or more candidates, and all 353 A’ Level schools which sit its examinations.